The mysterious disappearance and reappearance of Alabama woman Carlethia "Carlee" Russell continues to captivate the internet, and while we still don't have many answers, her parents, have issued a public statement for the first time since Carlee returned home. The 25-year-old nursing student went missing on Thursday, and then returned home on her own on Saturday, just over 48 hours later. The entire incident began when she called 911 to report that she had seen a toddler wandering alone on the interstate.
Traffic camera footage shows Carlee pulling over, but does not appear to a show a child anywhere on the road. Her family launched a frantic search, even collecting donations for a reward fund that ended up totaling over $63,000.
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Carlee returned home on foot.
On Saturday night, Carlee reportedly returned home on foot, but few details about her disappearance have been offered, leading many to speculate and question the presumption that she was kidnapped or potentially a victim of human trafficking — two theories that were floating around in the hours after she went missing.
Her parents initially asked for privacy with their daughter, before issuing a formal statement.
Once Carlee returned, her mother Talitha Russell posted a statement on Facebook asking for privacy so they could "love on" their daughter with family and friends, but promised to speak to the media at some point.
Their official statement was released Tuesday morning.
The Russells spoke exclusively with Today, in an interview that aired Tuesday morning. Carlee was not present for the interview. "There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life," Talitha said, corroborating what her daughter's boyfriend, Thomar Simmons, previously posted on Instagram.
"Carlee has given detectives her statement so that they can continue to pursue her abductor," she continued, asserting that Carlee's alleged abductor is "absolutely" still at large.
Her mother went on to describe trauma.
"We tried to hug as best we could, but I had to stand back because she was not in a good state. So we had to stand back and let medical professionals work with her," Talitha said.
But neither would provide additional details regarding what happened to Carlee during the two days she was missing. "Anything leading to the case itself, we can’t discuss that," she said.
"There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life," Talitha said.
But it's evidently more than just whatever she went through during that time that is having a negative effect on Carlee. "She's having to deal with the trauma of people just making completely false allegations about her," her mom explained.
The investigation is ongoing.
Police have also remained quiet regarding any specific details related to Carlee's case. Many people who viewed the traffic camera footage continue to question why no one could see a child in the video and why no other vehicles stopped or seemed alarmed by anything on the highway that night.
Hoover Police told Newsweek they "are combing through numerous pieces of evidence collected from the time she went missing until her return home and beyond."
"This is a tedious process, but it is important to make sure everything is methodically evaluated so that we have the clearest possible picture of what took place from the time Carlee called 911 until she returned home Saturday night," they said.
People want answers.
In the days since Carlee returned home, there has been something of a public outcry surrounding the lack of information that has been made available. Many content that if the abductor is still at large, the public should know. And that if a child was actually in danger, that should be public information.
But there's also the matter of the donations collected in support of the search for Carlee. Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama reportedly received $63,378 that was to be used toward reward money offered to anyone who provided information leading to Carlee's rescue.
But the Hoover Police Department reportedly told Crime Stoppers it would not be requesting payouts on the Carlee Russell case. Crime Stoppers says the bulk of the donations have already been returned and the rest of the refunds are in process.
